{"id":12924,"date":"2026-03-10T00:43:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T06:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-council-to-consider-700000-in-unanticipated-funds-for-city-projects\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:33:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:33:46","slug":"cortez-council-to-consider-700000-in-unanticipated-funds-for-city-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-council-to-consider-700000-in-unanticipated-funds-for-city-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez Council to consider  $700,000 in unanticipated funds for city projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=e6738dd0-0af9-59ac-a2e2-ed365c0ae026&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1279\" alt=\"Cortez will have an election June 8 to ask voters to opt out of state telecommunication law SB 152. (Journal file photo)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Cortez will have an election June 8 to ask voters to opt out of state telecommunication law SB 152. (Journal file photo)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Journal file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>During Tuesday\u2019s City Council meeting, council members will open the floor to public comment before they consider approving the use of $676,117 in unanticipated funds for various city projects.<\/p>\n<p>Finance Director Randy Bailey first presented the budget amendments to the council on Feb. 24, detailing unexpected funds not accounted for in this year\u2019s city budget. The excess is derived from grants, donations and leftover funds from 2025. He also said the 2026 budget mistakenly excluded a full\u2011time employee\u2019s salary and benefits despite their ongoing employment with the golf course, which must be corrected.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Rachel Medina asked during the first reading of the budget adjustment ordinance, \u201cYou\u2019re saying that we need to increase our expenditures, or our budget \u2013 what we plan to spend \u2013 by almost $700,000?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s exactly right,\u201d Bailey replied.<\/p>\n<p>City Manager Drew Sanders said a budget adjustment is routine work for the city.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe try not to do it but the reality of most years is that we need to do at least one,\u201d Sanders said, adding that during the budget creation process, the city\u2019s finance department could not anticipate future grants, donations or other excess funds and therefore could not incorporate them into the budget.<\/p>\n<p>If approved, the Cortez Public Library will receive $10,000 for technology materials for library programming. A nearly $60,000 grant for the fast\u2011track housing program, which reviews affordable housing project applications on an accelerated timeline, will support a housing coordinator and an AI pilot to assist with the process.<\/p>\n<p>Several construction projects \u2013 halted last year because of a lack of asphalt \u2013 as well as the airport\u2019s asbestos abatement initiative, priority equipment purchases and completion of a water\u2011network master plan, will also commence with the approval of the funds.<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-pdf-embed\"><iframe class=\"article-pdf\" src=\"https:\/\/dur-prod-public-pdfs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ckCyx6n1vtHt8PAPFSk_RPbbeM0.pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:500px;border:1px solid #ddd\" loading=\"lazy\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dur-prod-public-pdfs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ckCyx6n1vtHt8PAPFSk_RPbbeM0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1861_Ordinance1360Series2026FirstReading.pdf (Download PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/p><\/iframe>\n<p class=\"naviga-pdf-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dur-prod-public-pdfs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ckCyx6n1vtHt8PAPFSk_RPbbeM0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1861_Ordinance1360Series2026FirstReading.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The requested amount to be pulled from city reserves is $46,024 for the omitted city employee salary, with the remainder covered by excess golf\u2011course revenue earned through price increases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just have to appropriate the money so we can spend it,\u201d Sanders said. All funds outlined in the budget adjustment remain unused until the City Council approves them.<\/p>\n<p>Money has been a flash point for some residents who used public\u2011comment time during recent City Council meetings to lament the deteriorating softball complex and the city\u2019s plan to refund overcollected taxes. Sanders said the hundreds of thousands of dollars in unanticipated funds are already allocated to certain projects, either dictated by the previous budget or stipulated by the providers of grants or donations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t just switch over now,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cAnd even if we wanted to, this doesn\u2019t move the needle. This kind of money is not enough to even touch the problem out there at the ballpark.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, the council will vote to approve the amendments to the budget. If the ordinance passes, the city can start spending the money the next day.<\/p>\n<p><em id=\"emphasis-1104f9ceb4ccaa5e642ac6a8eab3a66b\"><a href=\"mailto:avanderveen@the-journal.com\">avanderveen@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>unused funds would benefit library programs, affordable housing projects and incomplete construction projects<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-12924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12924"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77054,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12924\/revisions\/77054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12924"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=12924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}